EL-ARISH, Egypt: Suspected militants gunned down a Coptic Christian teacher on his way to school in northern Sinai on Thursday, the second killing of a Christian in less than a week in the turbulent region, officials said.
Gamal Tawfiq, 50, was shot in the head by two militants on a motorbike who followed him as he walked from home to work at El-Samran School in the coastal city of El-Arish. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, but a security official said Daesh’s affiliate in Sinai was the prime suspect.
A school official confirmed Tawfiq’s death to The Associated Press but declined to give details. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
On Sunday, suspected militants gunned down a local vet, Bahgat Zakher, in El-Arish, and in late January, Wael Milad, a merchant, was killed by militants who stormed his shop. Both were Coptic Christians.
Egypt is home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, accounting for roughly 10 percent of its 92 million people. The Copts have long complained of discrimination and have frequently been targeted by militants. Daesh claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in a packed Coptic church in Cairo in December that killed nearly 30 worshippers.
“For long, incidents of shooting and killing Christians were sporadic, but recently we are witnessing an increase that I think will turn into a repetitive pattern in El-Arish,” said Ishaq Ibrahim, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
Last year, several Christians were shot to death in attacks, including in Sinai, where priest Rafael Moussa and government employee Massak Nasrallah were gunned down.
Meanwhile, at least five soldiers were killed and two injured on Friday by a roadside bomb in Northern Sinai, medics and security sources said.
The explosive device went off when an armored vehicle passed by killing and injuring the soldiers, the sources said.